A riddle about crime:
Sally is a blonde-haired, competent adult, a 22 year old college student, who was charged with the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Dave. Sally lives with her parents and her sister, Joan, a shy brunette, and her brother, Mike, a slow-witted, red-haired ten year old.
Police learned and trial testimony established that Sally had telephoned Dave and invited him to her house, at which he arrived 30 minutes after the call. Mike testified that he was present in the house when Dave arrived, spoke with him briefly and then left by himself five minutes later. He said Sally was speaking with Dave on the sofa of the living room when he left, and when he returned ten minutes later, Dave was dead, lying on the livingroom floor with two apparent gunshot wounds to the chest.
Joan testified that she was present when Sally pulled out a revolver, which she carried for apparent safety reasons because her school was in a shady part of town, and shot Dave twice. Joan was prevented by Sally from calling the police, so she screamed for help until police came.
Sally confessed to the killing and stated that she had planned to kill Dave for a while. Joan testified to what she had witnessed, claiming she was unaware of Sally's plan even though she felt very close to her. She described how Dave had begged for his life before being shot, and how he suffered for a few minutes before Sally shot him a second time. Fingerprints on the trigger and gun powder residue on the hand confirmed Sally as the shooter.
Sally was convicted of first degree murder, which carries at a minimum,a life sentence in the state where the murder took place. Because of the circumstances the prosecutor was seeking the death penalty, and the judge asked the parties if they were ready to proceed with the penalty phase.
Sally's attorney said to the prosecutor and judge, "Do what you want, but we all know whatever the jury decides, Sally will never have to worry about a death penalty. In fact, she's never going to spend a day in jail for this and she'll walk right out of this courtroom after this trial and go home."
The judge and prosecutor looked at each other, understood, and noticed that both Sally and Joan were smiling.
Why can Sally never be imprisoned or executed for killing Dave?
